Now he has delivered a kick in the golden globes to one former England skipper, it is time for Fabio Capello to give the current captain a boot up the backside, too.

If the decision to deny David Beckham a 100th cap is not to prove an empty gesture, the new manager needs to deal with the problem of John Terry.

Steven Gerrard will, in all probability, be named captain for Capello's first match in charge against Switzerland on Wednesday - but that decision must be made permanent.

For while Beckham is obsessed by image, Terry has long given the impression that he does not care a jot about the reputation of the England team.

Terry is the standard-bearer for a group of players who seem unable to control their conduct on the pitch or their bodily functions on nights out.

They are more likely to spill urine and vomit in nightclubs than blood, sweat and tears in the heat of battle.

While Terry is no longer the worst offender when it comes to late-night antics - Ashley Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jermain Defoe all appear to have stolen a march - his attempts at bullying referees are not just embarrassing but also counter-productive.

Match officials widely regard the England captain as Public Enemy No.1. They know that the behaviour of the England captain is reflected at grassroots level among pub players and aspiring youngsters alike.

Neither is there any guarantee that Terry will regain his England place once he is fit.

Capello favours defenders who are comfortable on the ball and if Jonathan Woodgate or Ledley King spend long enough away from the Tottenham treatment table, either could join Old Trafford's social secretary Rio Ferdinand as first-choice centre-backs.

Gerrard, meanwhile, possesses the best traits of Beckham - the ability to take a match by the scruff of the neck and score crucial goals from midfield, with none of the lunacy.

No self-respecting lad from Merseyside will end up as an international underpants model and publicity junkie.

The Champions League winner would also speak more sense than either Terry or Beckham. During Liverpool's troubles, Gerrard has preferred straight-talking honesty to meaningless cliches. By making him skipper, Capello would send out the right message to every England player. He's the closest thingwe have to a leader and role model.

Perhaps it needs an Italian to discover what should have been staring us in the face and restore pride to the office of England captain - although the inclusion of five Aston Villa players in Capello's original 30-man squad must suggest that Martin O'Neill can spot a player and a run a half-decent team.

Yet while the Italian has scoured Premier League grounds over the last month, he must also have kept an eye on the front half of the papers.

From the Manchester United Christmas party, to the Ashley Cole shagging-and-puking biathlon to the sight of Wright-Phillips emerging from a West End club with a bottle of Jack Daniel's stuffed down his trousers, the picture is familiar and bleak.

Apparently some of the first English terms he was taught by his tutor were 'roasting', 'binge drinking' and 'love rat'.

Capello will be aware that while his first squad is brimming with talent, many of those players need a reality check and a priority change.

Steve McClaren also axed Beckham at the start of his reign in an attempt to sweep away the celebrity era but then brought him back. Terry was 'JT', Gerrard was 'Stevie G' and player power carried on regardless.

We know that Capello is a different calibre of man to McClaren, that he possesses the mettle to see the job through.

And although nobody could begrudge Beckham a token 100th cap for his years of sterling service, the Italian has made the correct footballing decision by excluding him from this squad.

The King of sporting PR scored an own goal every bit as spectacular as one of his trademark free-kicks while posing on a Brazilian beach to promote his latest skills academy as the hurricanes raged around English football grounds this week.

But how the people of Brazil must be grateful that their soccer-impoverished land will be educated by a man from a national team which so recently, so very nearly proved itself to be one of the top 16 in Europe.